


Careful

by Avorna



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/M, Secret Relationship, Sleepiness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-18
Updated: 2018-03-18
Packaged: 2019-04-04 06:55:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14014671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Avorna/pseuds/Avorna
Summary: They're always discrete wherever they go. But being half-asleep and vulnerable, Caleb makes mistakes.Just a little ficlet around the secrecy around Caleb and Nott's relationship.





	Careful

**Author's Note:**

> There's a lot of debate in the fandom about how they read Nott's age. Following what she said about being childbearing age, personally I read her as around 19-20s, which is how it is for this fic.

As Caleb awakens, all he can see is Nott’s dark hair is his face, wild and unkempt from a night’s sleep. Smiling to himself, he closes his eyes and reaches out, nuzzling into Nott’s neck. He’s not entirely awake; his body is still weak from sleep, and he’s warm and comfortable, which is a feeling he’s spent much of his life missing. He’s also woken up hard, and with armfuls of his lover, and that’s a too exciting proposition for him to pass up.

“Mein Liebling,” he mumbles—his Zemnian accent think from sleep as he kisses her jaw. “Wake up. I’ve missed you.” Nott stirs a little but doesn’t wake up yet.

A small cough knocks Caleb out of his sleep-drunk reverie.

For a moment, he freezes, skin tight and terror striking him in the pit of his stomach. His eyes are wide open now, and he can see that they are not in the privacy of their own room—they’re on the floor at the latest tiny inn that didn’t have enough room for them all to have rooms.

Turning around and dropping his arms from around Nott’s sleeping form, he sees the rest of the gang in various states of sleep. All except Mollymauk, who’s sat cross-legged a foot away from him, and what looks like very deliberately is rearranging his tarot deck whilst not looking in his direction.

The vulnerability Caleb first had felt from sleep fades, and his stomach is twisting in awful ways. “How—How long have you been awake?” His voice is small and he tries not to let it squeak.

Molly's focus remains on the tarot deck in front of him, “Less than an hour, but not a lot less.”

Caleb shifts uneasily and swallows. He doesn’t know what to say or how to explain, and he grabs the hair that’s fallen onto his face and pushes back and balls his hand in a little fist. He’s usually the person telling Nott that she doesn’t need to panic, but he’s not good at taking his own advice.

People don’t like goblins. That’s a truth that in his time with Nott that has been made clear to him, if it wasn’t something that he already knew. The group they’ve found themselves with is understanding, and for the most part, they’ve welcomed Nott into their arms. However, the idea that a human and a goblin would be together that way is still a leap that Caleb doubts that few would condone. It would come, at the very best, with uncomfortable questions and distressed looks. Caleb doesn’t need that—he’s not sure he’d be comfortable talking to Nott about the depth of his feeling and what they are yet, let alone a bunch of acquaintances looking at them from the outside. Whatever they are, they're not for spectators to have a gawk.

Molly looks up at Caleb now and keeps his voice low, “The others are still asleep. I’ve just been practicing with my deck. I’ve not— Been doing anything particularly _interesting_. I’ve not seen anything particularly _interesting_.” He lets his gaze linger for a second. He then swiftly picks up the cards, and puts them back into his pockets and reaches for his swords. “Where do you reckon we’ll be heading first this morning?” Molly’s voice is back up to his usual chirpy self.

“I, err, was still hoping to check the bookshop before we left.”

“Aren’t you always?” Molly says with a smile. “For business or pleasure?” He unsheathes a blade from their ceremonial wrappings and begins to polish it.

“I always hope for both.” Caleb reaches for his book, using it as an excuse to not look at Molly and take a breather.

Next time, he will be more careful. He always needs to be more careful.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm oddly inspired rn and I've started writing a surprising amount of Nott/Caleb because the dynamic of a relationship between them would be so interesting to me. It's a bit of a mixture of stuff - some of it more romantic, some of it more explicit, some of it more explorations into Caleb or Nott's feelings. I can't see a lot of fic about for this pair yet, so if anyone's interested in reading more for them and if they let me know roughly what kinds of story they might be interested in reading, and I'll see what I can do.


End file.
